The Missouri men’s golf team claimed its first title of the 2023-24 season, finishing as co-champions of the Chicago Highlands Invitational on Tuesday afternoon. The Tigers finished four-strokes under par on the final hole of the tournament – gaining multiple strokes over nationally-ranked schools in Wake Forest and Virginia – to share the title with the Demon Deacons.
In a tournament that featured three schools in the Bushnell/Golfweek Division I Coaches Poll, the Tigers entered the 54th hole trailing No. 13 Virginia by three strokes and No. 25 Wake Forest by two strokes. With Virginia first three scorers all carding a par and Wake Forest’s adding two birdies, seniors Charlie Crockett (birdie) and Jack Lundin (eagle) brought the Tigers within striking distance by combining to go three-under on the 18th.
With Wake Forest at 31-under and both Virginia and Mizzou at 30-under with the final group on the green, the Tigers’ Virgilio Paz was the lone golfer to finish with a birdie of the trio as Mizzou pulled even with the Demon Deacons to share the title – the first under first-year head coach Glen Millican.
Overall, the team’s 31-under total of 833 ranks as the eighth-best 54-hole score in school history
Lundin led Mizzou by finishing three-under on his final two holes to card a four-under 68 on Tuesday – registering only one bogey to go with three birdies and his eagle on No. 18. The senior recorded his second top-five finish of the season with an 11-under 205 (68-69-68), placing second overall over the three rounds.
Four Tigers, overall, placed in the top 15 of the tournament with three in the top eight. Paz finished off a fifth-place finish – the first top-five of his career – with an even par 72 on Tuesday for a three-round tally of nine-under (68-67-72). Crockett carded a two-under 70 to place eighth at seven-under (68-71-70), leading Mizzou with 14 birdies over the three rounds, including six in the final 18.
Sophomore Alfons Bondesson rounded out the scoring for the Tigers with a three-under 69 on Tuesday, placing 15th individually at four-under (74-69-69).
No. 23 Duke placed fourth as a team at the tournament at 13-under, while College of Charleston was fifth at seven-under.
The Tigers are back in action in one week, competing at the SEC Fall Preview in Birmingham, Alabama, starting…
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